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Thursday, June 27, 2013

Votes Ahead? (A Certain Immigration Update)

A daily dose of immigration-related links collected by Fred BauerWant to subscribe? Sign up here. Or email me to subscribe.

Politico reports that negotiations over inserting amendments may be breaking down, putting the Gang further away from its goal of 70 votes:

Potential swing GOP votes began to peel away from the reform effort
Wednesday. A source familiar with the discussions told POLITICO that the
negotiators are no longer trying to woo Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.)
because they see his demands on agricultural workers as an
insurmountable hurdle. Two other Republicans, who had backed a so-called
border surge plan, then turned around to reject a procedural move to
advance the bill...
Barring a breakthrough agreement on amendments, the Senate is set to
vote on two procedural votes on Thursday. Final passage would come
Friday, although senators — ready to speed back to their home states for
the July 4 recess — could agree to move up the vote.

Andrew Stiles at NRO has many more details about the battle over amendments: "Further
votes on amendments to the Gang of Eight immigration bill may be
unlikely, as lawmakers have been unable to reach an agreement on which
amendments, and how many, to allow a vote on."

On Wednesday, the only vote we got was a 67-31 cloture vote to advance the main bill.

Rubio offers a defense of his immigration bill. He reiterates the concerns of those who criticize the Obama administration's record. He specifically denies that future Congresses cannot change the funding of the bill...Meanwhile, Sarah Palin calls for primaries for Ayotte and Rubio....Speaking of elections, Sean Trende argues that the GOP does not need to pass immigration "reform" in order to remain viable....

National Journal poll: "Overall, 77 percent of respondents opposed making government benefits available to legalized (but noncitizen) immigrants."

In an interesting post, Bill Kristol comes out hard against "comprehensive immigration reform":

So if Republicans want to win House and Senate seats in 2014, John
Boehner should kill the Senate bill—first refusing to take it up in the
House, and also by making clear the House will refuse to go to
conference with it. The House can still pass specific bills to address
particular immigration issues this session (which presumably the Senate
won't take up—but let Harry Reid explain his refusal to do so). But the
key is for Boehner to kill "comprehensive" immigration "reform" in this
session of Congress.

Ryan and Boehner now seem to be suggesting that Gang of 8 bill will not be voted on in the House---but hope for the House's own legislation (which could be melded with Gang of 8 bill in conference). Ryan seems to be taking on a leading role in the House immigration debate and seems to be supporting a plan that has some component of legalization, guest-worker programs, and further enforcement. See his interview here with Hannity for further details about what Ryan is thinking about (Hannity seems skeptical).